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Thursday, 24 July 2014

Oh I do love to be beside the seaside

As sandwich boxes, sports days and the school run give way
to picnics, paddling and exploring, we are enjoying living on one of the best
playgrounds in the world. With the river flowing through the marina and the
beach a two minute walk over the other side of the peninsular, our new Devon home is
perfect for the summer holidays.

Stunning

Emergency grab-bag number 1 has been repurposed as a great
beach/canoeing/dingy bag and a couple of weeks ago we got some new beach shoes,
ready for the schools to break up. They have been really good for paddling and
canoeing then they dry out ready for the next day. Normally I love to feel the
sand between my toes however here shoes are a wise choice. Not only are the
rocks jagged and rough with barnacles but Weever fish live happily in the sandy
bays ready to sting any foot which ventures too near.

5 pairs of shoes drying out on the deck

The water around Britain’s coast is warmer this summer than
it has been for several years; partly due to the storms preventing the usual
cooling over the winter and partly thanks to the bursts of heat we had earlier
in the year. Although the usual feeling of cold creeps its way into your skin
as you enter the water it doesn’t take long before you realise that the water
is actually ‘pleasant’ rather than the usual feeling of tolerating the cold
because your legs have gone numb.

The beautiful Devon coast
is vibrant with many rich hues of green, brown and blue and the coastline is
formed by fingers of rock jutting into the Sound hiding tiny coves and bays. As
we scramble over the rocks from one peaceful secluded beach to another or watch
terns performing overhead in the cerulean sky it’s incredible to think that
this is one of the coasts which was battered so severely in the terrible winter
storms.

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One of the tiny coves accessible only by canoe at mid-tide

The crew have all skimmed stones, swum and paddled. The
deckhands have dug and played in the sand whilst the Skipper read boat building
books and I read grammar books sat on the beach. We have scrambled over grassy
outcrops, inched along rocky edges above the sea and giggled as we carefully
picked our way between rocks with the water up to our waists. People living
with the ocean have been coasteering for generations, certainly for many years before
it officially became a sport.

We have enjoyed exploring the river in the dinghy and seeing
our new home from a different perspective. We have probably mentioned our elderly
Seagull engine before; a two-stroke petrol outboard which came with Kate (our old
Ridgeway Pirate) and stayed with us when she was sold on. This is a legend of
British engineering. These things have got a reputation for never giving up
even when they have been completely neglected or totally submerged in sea-water.
They do have a couple of drawbacks though including being incontinent of oil and petrol
and the noise they make. You can hear a Seagull engine approaching from a
distance and there is no chance of conversation when it is running. Communication
is reduced to hand signals with people who are sat only 2 foot away from you! This
made us finally replace ours with a much quieter and more environmentally
friendly electric outboard last year which has made trips – and conversation –
in the dinghy much more enjoyable.

Heading upriver in the dinghy

Obviously there has also been lots of work on the boat,
everyday chores and studying in between having fun and the deckhands are now helping the Skipper build a new wooden dinghy. This sunny weather may not
last for the whole 6 weeks of the holidays – that may be too much to hope for –
but it has certainly been a lovely start.

Freedom

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